Knitted mice flood in to support Alzheimer's charity

1st November 2013

A knitting group member who came up with the idea of knitting tiny mice to raise money for charity has been left astounded at the support she received.

Libby Swindells, 56, had a brainwave back in February and asked the participants of Nimble Fingers - the Trafford circle with whom she regularly meets - to support her in creating enough tiny woolly creatures to stretch a full mile.

They agreed and got to work - but it was when Libby put the 'Mile of Mice' story on Facebook and in the Manchester Evening News that things really took off.

The care worker started to receive donated mice from all over the world, with knitters in the USA, France, Denmark and lots of other countries all rising to the challenge. All kinds of mice turned up on her doorstep too, from traditional brown ones to critters in costume or covered in stripes. There were even popular characters such as Harry Potter in rodent form.

Altogether, more than 10,000 mice were donated and Libby and some of the other knitters headed to Altrincham Football Club this week to see if they had succeeded in creating a full mile's worth.

The toys were laid out nose to tail - and it turned out that they reached 1.9 miles around the ground, raising £8,918.17 for the Alzheimer's Society.

Libby said she has been blown away by everyone's hard work.

"I think the thing that has touched me most is when I get some mice sent from people who are caring for someone living with dementia but they still manage to find the time to knit 150 mice. I would like to thank everyone that has been involved, I really didn't think that it would explode in the way that it did," she added.

Anyone who wants to use their colourful yarns to knit even more mice might be interested to hear that Cats Protection is also on the lookout for these, cosy blankets and other woolly creations to raise money for its residents this winter.